At republic day event kejriwal trains guns on centre and l g

At republic day event kejriwal trains guns on centre and l g

BJP flays Chief Minister for 'misusing his formal Republic Day speech' to criticise the Central government and to attack Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena; CM says India's trade with China has risen despite aggression Fighting spirit: Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal at an R-Day celebration on Wednesday.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday said the Governors of different States have been obstructing the work of elected governments and, thereby, the aspirations of the people. Addressing a Republic Day celebration event organised by the Delhi government, Mr. Kejriwal called it a ‘mockery‘ of democracy.

His statements come amid an ongoing power tussle between the AAP government and Centre-appointed Lieutenant-Governor V.K. Saxena.

Responding to Mr. Kejriwal's remarks, BJP's Delhi unit president Virendra Sachdeva slammed the Chief Minister for ‘misusing his formal Republic Day speech’ to criticise the Central government and to attack the L-G.

Training his guns on the Centre, the Chief Minister also raked up the China question and said it's the duty of every Indian to boycott China, but instead there is a 50% rise in trade with China.

'Boycott China'

‘Today a newspaper has reported that China has occupied some of our land. This is a cause for worry. Our soldiers are bravely facing China on the border. So, it is our duty to stand with them in this fight. It's our duty to boycott China and give them a strong message,’ the CM said.

‘But what have we done in the past few years? On one hand, China is occupying our land and, on the other, we are increasing our trade with China. We are making China richer and they are using our money to buy weapons, recruit more soldiers to fight against us,’ Mr. Kejriwal said.

The Chief Minister went on to remind everyone of the freedom fighters' contribution and said they liberated the country and established democracy, but in the last few years democracy has been put under threat. ‘Delhi is one such State where the elected government has passed many legislations, but the Governor is not ready to sign them,’ he said. ‘Can one man change the verdict of the public? You cannot let one man hold democracy hostage,’ he added.

According to reports of the Central government, he continued, Delhi has become number one across the country in terms of start-ups, Electric Vehicles (EVs), education, health, CCTVs and green cover. ‘The inflation rate in Delhi is 3% while it is 7% in Gujarat, 7.8% in Haryana, 7.5% in Madhya Pradesh and 6.8% in Uttar Pradesh,’ Mr. Kejriwal said and also appealed to the Centre that people should be given relief from inflation by removing GST from food items and the GST regime should be simplified.

He also commented on the ongoing turf battle between the Centre and the judiciary. ‘Nowadays, I'm seeing that they [the Centre] are fighting with the judiciary. What is the need to fight with the judiciary and judges? This doesn't send a good message to the country,’ he added. Mr. Sachdeva retorted saying that the CM ‘only knows how to create problems and has no concern for finding solutions to issues’. He said the Republic Day event was not the right forum to raise issues like GST on food items.